"This will be okay." So we are reassured by the star of NCIS Hawai'i, a message sent to upset viewers of the show when they heard there was to be a two week hiatus. Would that the above statement would assure the rest of America to the status quo of it all, rather than applying only to a TV show. Interesting though, quite so, when we think of all the other issues plaguing the country today and at least for the near future. Also interesting is that the reassurance is expressed through the persona of a modern strong woman, one who heads an arm of government heretofore led only by men. Fascinating, in a world rather more typified by trying to put women back in "their place", an attitude of the GOP.
Would that all was okay or will be. But will it? Conversations I have had over this past week tells me not to believe that statement, that reassurance. Perhaps for the show, but for America's concerns and uncertainty remain in place. In describing conditions in an office, on an issue, wherever there is a disagreement, present is almost always America's 'Great Divide'. Worse is the growing concern that this Divide will self-perpetuate, never to be healed, permanently reshaping America, its goals, its presence in the world, and the probable future of the world at large.
Growing is the fear that the investigation, the truth of Jan. 6 will not culminate in any published, formal conclusion a la the Warren Commission. The committee is running out of time. The blockades the GOP has jammed into place on the road to recovery seems to have backfired on the Democratic Party as they are blamed for the harmful troubles foisted on this nation by GOP intransigence and fear of a demented man. It appears the GOP, other than a few honest, truthful members, have united in their negative partisanship, where there is no room for concern for the electorate; rather, there is a catering to the lowest elements of society - the haters, the uneducated, the ones stuck in a determination to keep the world as it once was, rather than adapt and accommodate to new truths.
There appear to be no people within the GOP capable and willing to take their 2020 defeat as grown, mature men and women. They whine all the day long, ally themselves with anti-Semitic groups, as Gosar is doing, has done, deny truths evident to any person who watched Jan. 6 unroll before our very eyes, heard the words, the instigating words of Trump who literally told his mob to fight - and so they did. And so, America crumbles, a bit more, a lot more, actually. Most assuredly, we cannot assure Americans and the world that indeed "this will be okay". Sad truth of the conditions today.
At a time when the Democratic Party needs to be strong, be united, they are consuming themselves from within. Liberal wing. Progressive wing. Conservative. Moderate. Who cares? Just present a united front and build faith and trust in the Democratic platform. Highlight GOP obstructionist tactics and lies, their role in the legislative delays to getting the show on the road, a road most necessary for the survival of this country. But they do not.
Worse is the exponential factor of influence that America has on the world, the gaping maw of its absence from the positive, strong, reassuring pose it traditionally has and inspires, the influence that is sadly and dangerously waning. We have shirked our responsibilities to ourselves and the world, to humanity at large. Like it or not, that was our role, a role in which we took pride, a role which we tried to perfect as we stumbled along. We succeeded more than failed and there was a future for our children. American can-do spirit, its perpetual optimism that served it so well through two major wars, economic crises, social upheavals and more, was severely, critically wounded.
We walked backwards, a bad tactic, even if we meant well. We threw out the baby with the bathwater with no other water or baby in sight. Acknowledging that our heroes and Founding Fathers had feet of clay should not mean that we need to disrespect their positive steps, their boldness and progressive, innovative thinking. Yes, some had slaves. However, they also recognized the need and right to self-determine their own fate, rather than have it imposed on them. They knew that democracy, a revolutionary belief, was the truth, the way to go. They argued re the status of slaves, their membership among the ranks of mankind, fought battles about it, compromised, allowing the country to exist, to move forward on the path of trial and error, of sucess in the recognition of truths and the discarding of lies.
This took time, too much time, but it did happen, though racial, gender, religious hatred remains viable, and indeed, a growing factor. We encourage that by discarding all that went before, rather than taking pride in the positive aspects, the ones that allowed us to move forward and drag the world along with us. People are people. Times are the times. No one is perfect. Certainly not if we judge them through the eyes of a changed world, not the one in which they lived, in which they formatted their thinking, their challenges, their push to indeed, make it all okay.
If not for the flourishing and nurturing of their seeds, the seeds of democracy, the viability of those seeds, we would not have the society we have today. A society which, while not perfect, allows for the inclusion of all, the upward movement of all. If there are difficulties or not, that does not preclude possibilities, and probabilities. They are there. We see them, we know them, we live them even as we struggle to make it better. That is life.
So, completely okay? Perfectly okay? No, and truthfully, I doubt there is such a condition for there is always room for improvement. That improvement comes via hard work. Even if we take a step or two backwards at times, the dominant forward movement of this country, its integration within the soul of this country, will move it forward again - and has indeed done so many times.
As one stated, "Jan. 6 was a stain on the country's history." He continues, that "Donald Trump bears responsibility for it." Actually, yes, and no. We bear responsibility for allowing for the rise of such a man to the unbelievable office of President, the leader of the Free World. We allowed that. We enabled that. We abandoned our traditions, reverted to a more primitive time, a time of dictators, of hatred nourished via perverse, unfortunately influential members of society. We are the ones who need to recognize that it is not okay, will not necessarily be okay, unless we make it okay though our own efforts.
Okay? Maybe. Up to us.
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